Artemis of Bana-Mighdall (Prime Earth)

As a result of the New 52 in 2011, the entire line of DC characters was relaunched, incorporating properties belonging to the company's imprints: Wildstorm, Milestone, and Vertigo. As such, elements of this character's history have been altered in some way from the previous incarnation's. For a complete list of all versions of this character, see our disambiguation page.

Early Life

From childhood, Artemis was told that she would become an unrivaled warrior, and one day become Queen of the Amazons. One day, she arrogantly tried to claim the most powerful weapon given to the Bana by the Egyptian Gods: the Bow of Ra. However, the weapon rejected her, and the goddess Nephthys appeared and confirmed that Artemis was not ready to wield it.

In her youth, Artemis dreamt of becoming the Shim'Tar, the champion of her people. Despite not believing the endeavor entirely realistic, her best friend Akila served as her training partner. One day, Artemis noticed Akila had gone missing. She spent several weeks searching to no avail until Akila was teleported back from the residence of the gods. After nursing Akila back to health, she learned that Akila was summoned by the gods and officially made the Shim'Tar.

The Fall of Bana Mighdall

Akila's new job caused her and Artemis to drift apart. Lonely without her best friend around, Artemis left home to live in the desert, finding some solace there. One night, Artemis noticed Bana-Mighdall under attack and rushed back to help. It turned out that the nation of Qurac, who had been trying to expel the Bana from their home, managed to penetrate the magical sandstorm protecting them. When she reached the city she saw Akila carrying the Bow of Ra and the legendary Wonder Woman had come to stop the fight between the Quraci and the Bana.

Seeing the embodiment of everything she wanted to be in front of her, Artemis attacked Diana in a fit of jealousy. Diana stopped her and explained that she came to help the Bana until Akila used the bow to take out the Quraci and her own sisters. Artemis was still skeptical until Akila began preaching about protecting their home by using Ra's power to destroy it. Diana explained that the Bow’s power had consumed her friend and offered Artemis a choice: side with what’s left of Akila or help her end her madness. Artemis sided with Diana, but they could not get through to Akila, so they were forced to kill her. In her last moments, Akila apologized for everything and told Artemis that she was the real Shim'Tar all along. The Bow went missing, so Artemis and Diana assumed the gods had taken it away. However, Artemis later learned that the Bow was stolen from its resting place, and dedicated herself to finding it.

Dark Trinity

Artemis faces Red Hood

After a year of searching, Artemis was able to get a solid lead by interrogating a US Senator. She learned that a criminal called the Black Mask was smuggling a weapon into Gotham City, and assumed it to be the Bow of Ra. Her search led her to meet the Red Hood, who was working undercover as a member of Black Mask's gang. Artemis, thinking him a simple thug, jumped in to fight him. Jason managed to get her to ally with him after explaining that he was working undercover, and the two combined their efforts. Artemis was shocked to discover that the weapon was not the Bow, but rather a Superman clone. Before either her or Jason could do anything else, the two were incapacitated by Black Mask's security measures.

Artemis was locked in a cell opposite the clone. When Red Hood tried to see if the clone was sentient, Artemis warned him against it, believing the creation to be nothing more than a monster. Jason intended to free Artemis, but she chose to remain incarcerated to monitor the clone and see if Black Mask had any leads on the location of the Bow of Ra. Considering the clone a kindred spirit, Red Hood resolved to try to reach him anyway, and officially gave him the name Bizarro. Confused by the name, Artemis claimed that he was a monster incapable of understanding him, a statement which caused Bizarro to go berserk.

Bizarro attacked Jason and Artemis initially refused to blow her cover by helping, but she soon had a change of heart and prepared to break out of her cell. However, Jason managed to calm Bizarro down and get him to see himself and Artemis as friends. The next day, Artemis escaped and, eavesdropping on Red Hood and Black Mask, followed them to the basement. Once there, Jason, aware of her presence, inquired about the Bow. Mask revealed that he had it but sold it to someone in Qurac. Upset that the Bow escaped her grasp, she left as Jason silently wished her luck.

When Red Hood was forced to battle a brainwashed Bizarro, Artemis intervened before Bizarro could kill him. She claimed that she could handle Bizarro alone, but when Bizarro damaged her magic axe Artemis was weakened due to the bond she shares with it. Jason came up with a plan to stop Black Mask, but Artemis refused to cooperate. She attacked Bizarro head on but was overpowered, and Red Hood stopped her from charging in again. Though upset that he had put a hand on her, Jason called her out on actually caring about the threat Bizarro posed. Artemis was moved to cooperate, and Red Hood convinced her to avoid killing Bizarro long enough for him to implement his plan, so she switched to non-lethal tactics. Along the way, she noticed Bizarro regaining his senses, prompting her to realize Jason's plan: separate Bizarro from Black Mask to weaken their bond. Despite her best efforts, she could not stop Bizarro from returning to Black Mask's side. Fortunately, the duo prevented Black Mask from killing him.

The Outlaws

Once Red Hood and Artemis recovered, Artemis renewed her attack, hoping to stall Bizarro long enough for the techno-virus Black Mask was using to control Bizarro to backfire and damage his brain. Though she held Bizarro off, she was eventually cornered. Before he could kill her, Jason's plan worked, leaving Bizarro free and Mask brain damaged. Though she was satisfied at the outcome, she was upset that she deviated from her quest for the Bow of Ra. Artemis prepared to leave, but Red Hood offered to help her in her quest out of gratitude. She initially refused, but Bizarro convinced her to relent. Artemis decided to let them help provided they split up once her quest is complete, and they all agree, forming the new Outlaws.

What to Do with Bizarro

Later, after Red Hood and Bizarro returned from an outing, Artemis talks to Jason about how dangerous it was to keep a Superman-level being with the mind of a child around. Jason wanted to teach him to be a hero, but Artemis still believed him to be too dangerous. Using a video diary of one of the scientists responsible for creating Bizarro as proof, she warned him that he is a danger not to themselves, but to those around them who could not handle a problem like Bizarro.

Who is Artemis?

Artemis and Red Hood were tracking a metahuman criminal and the two headed into a bar following a lead. When the bartender refused to talk about a patron, Artemis instigated a bar fight. As she and Jason fended off everyone present, Artemis saw Akila aiming the Bow of Ra at her. Shocked to see her dead friend, she froze, causing Jason to protect her, revealing that it was their target using his power to take the form of someone from her memories. Concerned at how someone as fearless as Artemis froze with fear, Red Hood asked about what she saw. She tried to brush him off but Jason insisted, so she relented. She went on to explains the history of Bana-Mighdall and her connection to Akila, Wonder Woman, and the Bow of Ra. Satisfied, the two headed off to begin their search for the Bow. As the two left the bar, Red Hood gave Artemis a compliment, to which she responded by threatening to punch him.

Using the information that Red Hood got from Black Mask, the Outlaws headed to the place where the buyer of the Bow of Ra resided: Qurac. Stealing a decrepit cargo plane, Jason had Bizarro fly it into Quraci airspace while he and Artemis watched a news feed about a Quraci city being leveled by Quraci General Ahmed Heinle. Artemis recognized the destruction as the work of the Bow of Ra, but since only a Shim'Tar is capable of using the bow, she was the only living person who could wield it. As Artemis beat herself up for failing her friend, General Heinle himself hailed their plane and demanded that they turn back. Red Hood refused, so he scrambled fighters to shoot them down. Though the Outlaws avoided being shot down, a light bright enough to obscure the night sky shined in front of them.

Artemis and Akila vs. Red Hood and Bizarro

Rendered unconscious by the blast, Artemis came to bound to the ceiling above a pit of fire, a location that she recognized as a labyrinth underneath Bana-Mighdall. When she got her bearings, she was shocked when she realized that her captor was Akila, who was supposed to be dead. Eventually, Akila released Artemis and took her to celebrate her return with the new Amazons she had trained. Artemis felt guilty over what happened the last time she was home, but her friend convinced her that all was forgiven. As the Amazons celebrated, Artemis stepped away and Akila followed. The two gazed at the newly restored Bana-Mighdall, and Artemis tried to understand Akila's plans and how she was even alive. She explained that when the general received the Bow, none of his men could control it, so he dug up her remains and used a sample from her body to activate it, and she was restored as a side effect. Akila forgave Artemis for killing her and asked her to help her stand at her side and rebuild their home. Happy at the prospect of having everything she wanted back, Artemis agreed to help.

Later, Akila led an attack on the Quraci military. In the melee, Artemis' first act was to find Red Hood, who was fighting against her fellow Amazons. As the fight escalated, Red Hood tried to convince her that Akila had the Bow of Ra, which Artemis refused to accept. Artemis tried to force Heinle to surrender, but he chose death over letting Akila destroy Qurac. At that moment, a flaming arrow killed him on the spot. Recognizing the arrow, she was forced to face the reality that her best friend had lied to her. Akila revealed that she lied to get Artemis on her side. When Red Hood prepared to engage Akila, Artemis was hesitant to kill her friend again but was convinced by Jason to fight. At that moment, Bizarro arrived with Quraci refugees and accidentally dropped a mountain of rubble on Akila. When she recovered and attacks Bizarro, Artemis was moved to fight Akila alone. However, Akila fired a massive arrow at the refugees.

Artemis wielding the Bow of Ra

Before it could reach them, Artemis shielded them at the cost of her axe. Akila asked again for Artemis to join her, but Red Hood and Bizarro used the opening to rejoin the fight. Though they could not defeat her, Artemis took up the Bow of Ra and used it to take Akila down. However, Akila lost control of the power she absorbed from the Bow, causing her to go nuclear. Before she could explode, Artemis had Bizarro carry her into space to explore safely, and she cried as she lost her best friend once again.

After the fight, Artemis shared a warm moment with Jason and thanked him for helping. Now leaderless, the new Bana looked to her for direction. She instructed them to remake Bana-Mighdall alongside the Quraci refugees and try to live in harmony rather than isolation. Satisfied that she no longer needed to stay, she decided to remain an Outlaw and let the people choose a new Shim'Tar, though she did plan to keep the Bow of Ra for herself. Her conversation with Jason was cut short when a refugee found an apparently dead Bizarro.

Immortality: The Amazons were gifted immortality. The people of Themyscira lived forever, though could be killed in war or in an accident. Those who followed Antiope and Phthia and became the Bana-Mighdall lost their immortality.[2]

Self-Sustenance: So long as the Amazons stay on Themyscira, she does not require food, water or any other form of nourishment to maintain her health and vitality.[3] Although they are not susceptible to the throes of hunger, this does not mean that Amazons don't consume food for enjoyment. The Amazons frequently hold great festivals wherupon food is served.

Abilities

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Lasso of Submission: The Lasso was the weapon of the evil Earth 3 counterpart to Wonder Woman, Superwoman. When Superwoman was killed Wonder Woman took the lasso, swearing she would give the weapon to somebody more worthy. The lasso was capable of forcing people to obey the wielder's commands. After the defeat of Rustam in the battle between the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall and the Quraci army, Diana gifted Artemis with the Lasso of Submission, renaming it the Golden Promise.[4]

Weapons

Mistress: A giant battle axe of the Gods[5] that Artemis can call to her person.

Bow of Ra: A powerful artifact once belonging to Ra and his designated Bana champion.[6] With it in hand, Artemis can discharge either regular or hyper-destructive solar energy quivers potent enough to shatter stars and planets.[4](Possibly Formerly)

This character is or was primarily a member of the anti-hero team known as the Outlaws, in any of its various incarnations. They are a group of outcast heroes led by Red Hood, who fight against evil and do what bigger groups like the Justice League will not. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Outlaws members" category.